Yesterday, the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) and The Bike Boutique Holding (TBB) announced a five-year partnership where TBB will operate retail and event expo activities at Ironman and Ironman 70.3 races in the Asia-Pacific Region. These expos, called the “Tri Trade Show” (TTS), will provide athletes and spectators an up-scale retail experience, and provide manufacturers and distributors with a consistent expo infrastructure to facilitate their participation on a regional basis. WTC and TBB also expect that the TTS will create an event social center by offering a meeting point during race week and race day for family, supporters and fans to spend time together in a pleasant environment.

“Our main priority is to upgrade the entire Ironman experience at Asia-Pacific events,” said Murphy Reinschreiber, WTC’s Managing Director Asia-Pacific. “Providing a quality retail atmosphere and event social center is an important component to this experience. This is a big job and to get it done as envisioned, we turned to the region’s most successful high-end retailer – The Bike Boutique.TBB knows our market and understands our goals. The partnership with TBB puts this event aspect in very capable hands and allows us to concentrate on other aspects of Ironman racing.”

Ironman racing in Asia Pacific is booming as evidenced by record sell-outs of Ironman events in Australia, New Zealand, Japan and The Philippines with several races selling out in less than 12 hours. The WTC-TBB retail partnership will kick-off with Ironman Western Australia/ Busselton (December 5) and the Ironman 70.3 Asia-Pacific Championship at Laguna Phuket, Thailand (December 5). Tri Trade Shows are expected to be produced at all 2011 regional events except Ironman New Zealand and Ironman 70.3 Singapore.

TBB Holding Managing Director, Alex Bok stated: “WTC has built the No. 1 triathlon and endurance brand in the world and we are excited to be part of the push into the Asia Pacific market. Like WTC, we have a passion for triathlon. As a retailer with experience throughout the region we clearly see the potential for the sport and trade show format. We are proud to partner with WTC with the mission of enhancing the Ironman experience across the Asia-Pacific.”

TBB will manage the Tri Trade Shows from its offices in Singapore and Melbourne.

For further information about the Tri Trade Shows, please visit TBB.